The characteristic persistence of vision of human viewers has been used to advantage in previous display devices, including rotating wheel displays. U.S. Pat. No. 5,057,827 to Nobile et al., the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, describes a motor actuated rotating member where an array of LEDs are turned on and off using time or position division multiplexing so that to an observer an image is generated over the path of the array.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,302,965 to Belcher et al., the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, describes a rotating display device which rotates vertical columns of light emitting diodes. The light emitting diodes arranged in the columns sweep around a cylindrical surface. A control circuit turns the light emitting diodes on and off to provide an image display on the surface. The display device requires a complex electromechanical device with a motor for rotating the LED columns at a uniform rate of rotation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,903,224 to Reynolds, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, describes a persistence of vision device for mounting on a spoked bicycle wheel. This device is a single large circular unit which mounts on the side of the wheel. Its design inherently precludes displaying images across the majority of the diameter of the wheel. Its design also precludes a protected placement within the spoked wheel. Its large single-piece circuit board is also comparatively very expensive to manufacture.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,072,386 to Yu, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, describes a persistence of vision device for mounting on a spoked bicycle wheel. This device consists of a single small integrated unit mounted onto the spokes of the wheel. The device's small size simplifies its attachment to the wheel but limits the size and complexity of the display it is capable of producing. Further, the device only emits light at one angular location on the wheel, which requires high rotation rates to produce a quality display.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,079,042 to Reim, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, describes a persistence of vision device for mounting on automobile wheels and hubs. The design of this device makes its use with bicycle wheels limited much like the Yu device.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,492,963 to Hoch, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, describes a persistence of vision device for mounting on a spoked bicycle wheel. This device includes of one or more arrays of lights, attached to spokes around the wheel and connected together via electrical cables.
U.S. Pat. Application Publication No. 2008/0101053 A1 of Hoffman et al., the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein in its entirety, describes a persistence of vision display device integrated into a car wheel. This device is entirely integrated into a car wheel hub in such a way that it cannot be applied to a bicycle wheel which is very different in its mechanical structure and attachment to the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. Application Publication No. 2008/0186155 A1 of Spencer et al., the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, describes a persistence of vision display used as a display in a vehicle instrument cluster. This device requires a motor to spin the display device since a natural rotating member does not exist in the instrument cluster.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,161,256 to Fang, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, describes a persistence of vision display integrated into a fan. This device uses the fan blades for its base support structure and receives power through an inductive means from the non-rotating base. The device only has a display on one side of the fan.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,271,813 to Gilbert, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, describes a persistence of vision display device integrated into a car wheel. This device uses a computer for storage and recall of the images to be displayed, and a wireless communication between the non-moving computer and the moving portion of the display. This device is integrated into a car wheel such that it displays on the one visible side of the wheel.
Numerous implementations of bicycle wheel displays have been shown publicly by various parties, most are very similar to either the Hoch or Yu designs. The Hoch design has provided the highest displayed image quality of any bicycle wheel display available to date, however the Hoch has a number of problems that has limited its commercial success. Specifically, when configured using only a single array of lights the Hoch design requires very high wheel rotation rates to form a solid display image. Such rotation rates are inconvenient on a bicycle. As a result it is common practice to use the embodiment of the Hoch design with multiple individual arrays of lights, either electrically connected together with cables or not electrically connected together. In the case where the arrays are electrically connected, the required cables are expensive and difficult to manufacture in a way which can survive the harsh environmental conditions experienced on a bicycle wheel. In the case where the arrays are not electrically connected, each array requires its own microprocessor and batteries, significantly increasing cost and weight. Whether electrically connected or not, the use of multiple physically separate arrays inherently causes difficult installation and configuration for the user, since each array must be individually attached to the wheel, aligned mechanically, and configured electronically. Further, there is inherent excess weight due to the added hardware required for each array to be individually fully secured to the wheel, and inherently greater likelihood that an array will become loose. When using multiple individual arrays of lights connected together, the Hoch design is further impractical for larger numbers of arrays as each slave array must be individually connected to the master array. In order to allow the attachment of many slave arrays, many connectors are required on the master which adds to manufacturing cost and size, even though many users may never connect more than one or two slave arrays.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved electronic display apparatus for rotating wheels.